Research Station

Research Station operated by Duplicants will produce Novice Research Points necessary to unlock new technologies. It has to be supplied with Dirt to function.

Research Station is available at the start of the game and is needed for every research node in the game.

Usage
Research Station is mandatory to progress deeper on the tech tree. It is usually built early and used constantly as most of the researches in the first row are very useful. Multiple Research Stations can work on the same Research Task at the same time, however doing that early on is very likely to lock the entire colony into researching, as it not only needs operating duplicants but also other ones delivering Dirt.

Duplicants with high Science attribute are the most useful on the Research Station. At the start of the game, picking Duplicant with the highest Science possible regardless of their Decor expectation is recommended as increasing Decor near the Research Station is easy (by placing it near the Printing Pod for example, it also will provide lit workspace bonus).

Using Duplicants with low Science can still be a strategy, and the increase in this stat they might get by researching will help them level up faster later on.

A Duplicant with high research skill will automatically replace another Duplicant with low research skill at Research Station.

Mechanics
If multiple Research Stations are working on a research and one of them finishes the last Novice Research needed, all other Novice Research production will be halted, however they can be resumed and used for another research task later.

Duplicants are considered to be on the bottom-left tile of the structure for purposes such as Decor.

Tips

 * By inflicting Zombie Spores, Hypothermia or Heat Stroke, a Duplicant science will be reduced, allowing more Science leveling per research point, maximizing Science training. Note that having -10 Science will totally prevent attribute leveling, while having -9 to -5 Science will very slowly train Science, while not progressing through research nor using Dirt, making it possible to raise Science to +6 without using Dirt or Research Point. Research will progress and Dirt will be used when the Duplicant is at or above -4 Science.